


what's your town called again?

by C_AND_B



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Good Parent Lillian Luthor, Not Evil Luthors, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21629137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_AND_B/pseuds/C_AND_B
Summary: a thanksgiving surprise changes lena's life forever (her family aren't huge fuck-ups and it's all pretty nice)
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 181
Kudos: 2427





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on this tweet thread i read at work and then decided i would write the fic of in a single day like an idiot: https://twitter.com/baddestmamajama/status/1199796733741432833?s=20 
> 
> i don't endorse thanksgiving but this was hella cute so we move. sorry for mistakes made in my rush

Lena doesn’t know when they graduated to texting for anything other than a middle-of-the-night booty call. She thinks it was probably Kara’s doing. If she scrolled up on the chat she’s sure she’d find a message from out of nowhere asking something mundane like how her day was or what her weekend plans were beyond accidentally finding Kara at a party and not so accidentally bringing her back to her apartment.

Not that Lena could figure out the motive of it all. Kara never pushed it very far, never texted more than a few times a day, never asked a question deep enough that Lena debated not answering.

She was somewhat of an enigma.

Lena hadn’t found the time to break the code.

When her phone bleeps at two in the morning and Lena’s half on the way to sleep, she knows exactly who it’s going to be, opens her half-lidded eyes to see whatever ridiculousness Kara might’ve come out with now. She kind of hopes it’s another drunken message about how unicorns would make way more sense than giraffes do but we all pretend horses with horns would be insane. She at least expects it to be a continuation of the conversation they were having earlier. It’s neither.

_Sunshine Danvers (2:04am): I forgot, what’s your town called again?_

_Lena Luthor (2:05am): Thorul_

_Sunshine Danvers (2:05am): California, cool! Wouldn’t have guessed that with how pale you are. You excited for Thanksgiving dinner? Eliza’s bought two different kinds of turkey and I can already taste how good they’re gonna be_

_Lena Luthor (2:06am): Green beans were always my favourite part_

_Sunshine Danvers (2:07am): You’re a monster but Happy Thanksgiving, Lena!_

_Lena Luthor (2:08am): Happy Thanksgiving_

Lena goes to sleep thinking that’s it. For all intents and purposes, it should be. It should be a fullstop in the sentence of their relationship until the next beginning that starts with too much tequila, Kara’s ass looking insane in tight jeans and Lena’s recent decision to throw caution to the wind.

She wakes up to the sounds of Lillian barking orders to a grumbling Lionel about how he forgot the cranberry sauce and he wasn’t the only one with a fulltime job, and yet, she didn’t forget literally everything else on the menu.

It feels about right for Thanksgiving. She’s a little excited for the grovelling later that will come around the table – the one that will sound a lot like _I’m thankful for my wonderful wife who put all of this together_ followed by an audible eye roll from everyone else around the table mocking Lionel for sucking up so obviously. It was tradition at this point.

“Look who decided to join us,” Lionel says, as Lena plops herself down at the kitchen counter, hair slapped in the quickest bun she could muster and swaddled in her warmest jumper, and pulls a mug of coffee towards herself. She smiles as he presses a kiss to the top of her head.

“Is it the cranberry sauce?” She jokes, matching Lillian’s fist bump with glee. She still remembers the first time she taught the woman how to do it. She was very confused about it’s purpose, incredibly reserved in the way she tapped her knuckles to Lena. Now she offered them up with abandon like she was about to tell her country club friends she was ‘down with the kids’. Lena would let her.

Lionel groans, grabbing his keys and pointing them at the two of them sharply, “I don’t need this from both of you.”

“Where are you going?” Lillian asks.

“To fight with another man in the one still open grocery store over the last cranberry sauce obviously.” Lena hears his confident footsteps come to a standstill as he opens the door and a confused _oh hello_ sounds in the distance followed by a quiet responding female voice.

Lena doesn’t think anything of it. Why should she think anything of it? Maybe Lex had invited a guest in the end. Maybe the neighbour had braved the incredibly long driveway to ask for a cup of sugar - it was possible if not improbable.

She should really prepare herself when her father returns with a grin, she should, especially because it’s aimed at her so broadly but by the time she has that thought it’s already too late. She’s already seen Kara standing behind him and had coffee spurt from her nose.

“Lena!” Lillian chastises, immediately wiping the surface and checking that none of her cooking had been ruined this early on in the day. Her brow furrows as she looks up and takes in the girl standing with a bouquet of flowers and a nervous grin. “That doesn’t look like cranberry sauce, Lionel.”

“This is Kara Danvers. Lena’s _friend_ apparently.” Kara shuffles at the term friend, eyeing Lena for a second before she turns to Lillian.

“Kara’s fine, Mrs Luthor, ma’am. I’m sorry to intrude – these are for you.” She hands over the flowers, they really are quite beautiful. Lillian accepts them easily enough, though with a hint of suspicion that seems to be shared between the two of them. Lena is completely willing to throw Kara under the bus to avoid the calculating gaze.

“Lena didn’t say she’d invited a friend.”

Kara’s grin slips into something a little more nervous as she replies, “Oh she didn’t invite - this was more of a surprise.”

“You didn’t bring anything for me?” Lionel asks, brow cocked and reminiscent of the very move Lena thinks she’d see if she looked in the mirror.

“Oh, shoot, sorry, sir. I have um-“ She roots in her pocket with true vigour, pulling her hand out with some spare change and a lot of lint. “17 cents?” She offers and Lionel takes it from her waiting palm.

“I’ll invest it wisely.” Okay well that had to be it. Lena jumps up and grabs Kara by the arm.

“Kara and I are just going to have a chat,” she explains, already dragging Kara, who follows on with ease. Kara offers Lex a meek hello when they pass him on the stairs and Lena steadfastly ignores the look of interest on his face and the way his descending footsteps become a bit more hurried. She doesn’t even want to think about the conversation going on down there. Shuts her bedroom door with enough force to shake the thought from her head.

Kara shrugs self-consciously when Lena spins on her, “Surprise?”

“What the fuck? You’re here. In my house. On Thanksgiving. Why are you here at my house on Thanksgiving? How did you even get here?” Maybe Lena was dreaming. There was definitely a chance she was dreaming - maybe she’d already eaten Thanksgiving dinner and was in some delirious food coma.

“I drove. Completely underestimated how far this actually was though – turns out it’s a bigger state than I thought. Took me like eight hours. And then some lady at a gas station told me your address, which, now that I think about it, is a little creepy that she was so willing to give that out.”

“Well you’re not exactly threatening,” Lena points out. She was adorable in her fitted trousers and turkey-embroidered sweater. She was literally the all American picture. Even if she was apparently so ripped that Lena could see her abs through the wool. How the hell did somebody get that ripped? Why was Lena shocked like she hadn’t literally seen her naked? “That still doesn’t answer why.”

“I’m just going to say it because honesty is the best policy right?” Kara says a little frantically. Lena nods and waits. A second longer. Another few seconds. Nothing comes. The only thing that changes is the look on Kara’s face that becomes more and more strained.

“Kara, I need you to explain yourself in the next five seconds or-“

“I like you. I know that you’re still in _something_ with your ex but I like you and I wanted to show you that instead of pretending all I want is to hook up at parties sometimes – not that, that isn’t also spectacular. You’re spectacular. And I know this was a bold move but I need you to know where I stand and I’ll get back in my car right now and pretend I never did this if that’s what you want, so long as you know that I’m interested in more. I just thought I’d check if you were too?”

“You drove eight hours in the middle of the night only to offer to immediately do the same thing, just to tell me you like me?” Argument number two for the _Lena was in a food coma_ column. That wasn’t something that people did. Except apparently that was something that sweater wearing, gentle grin sharing, ab-having, soft hand touching Kara Danvers did. Lena didn’t understand her. She didn’t really understand anything at all right now.

“Well I’d probably stop for some waffles first but yeah, pretty much. There’s absolutely no guilt in this. Just a girl, shooting her shot with another girl, because her sister told her she couldn’t be bothered to listen to her talk about aforementioned girl any more.” She rocks back and forth on her heels for a second, her hand dropping into her pocket to jingle her keys and Lena knows that she’s serious, that she would leave the second she asked. Why did she have to be so pretty?

“You can stay. For dinner. Nothing else.” Kara’s shoulders drop with a huge sigh of relief, her hands leaving her pockets to wipe down her legs. It was odd to see her nervous. Lena hadn’t experienced it since the first time they ever spoke when Kara offered her a drink of the ‘good hidden stuff’ (which turned out to not be very good at all).

“Do you guys have pumpkin pie? Because if not I talk back everything I just said,” Kara jokes in the space her tension vacated and Lena pushes her a little too harshly.

“We’re rich, not monsters.” She opens her bedroom door to find Lex standing right at it. His hand rises as if to knock a second too late to actually have been what he was doing. The slightly guilty amusement in his smile paints a perfect picture of what was actually going on.

“Hello Lena and friend. Did you finish making out?”

“Lex, I swear to god-“

Lex cuts her off, eyes trained on Kara. “You know, friend, Lena’s never brought someone home for Thanksgiving before.” Well that wasn’t technically true. When she was seven she brought home a stray dog she found wandering out the front of the house - she got it all the way into the kitchen before Lillian called the vet and made them all take it in. Turns out it was a little rabid.

“The streak continues I suppose since technically I brought myself. And Kara’s fine.” She sticks her hand out politely because apparently she was the perfect guest, beyond the fact that she invited herself over. Lena’s surprised she still had her shoes on and wasn’t halfway through cooking dinner and telling Lillian to just sit back and rest her feet.

“This is going to be a lot of fun, Kara.”

“Your tone suggests quite the opposite.”

“I’m not the one you should be worried about,” Lex says cryptically and Lena wishes he were just trying to be menacing but he’s probably right. “Though I have prepared a few quick fire questions for you about Lena. A mini quiz, if you will, to prepare you for the belly of the beast.”

Kara rolls her shoulders, “Hit me.”

“Her favourite colour?”

“Blue.”

“Favourite book?”

“You never choose between children.”

“Favourite song?”

“Publicly, Ode to Joy. Privately, Smack My Bitch Up.” That truth was a little embarrassing but still completely true. All of them were actually and the more Kara gets right, the more Lena is baffled because she didn’t think Kara had paid that much attention, never thought she wanted anything beyond the physical. She didn’t think she could answer these questions about her but suddenly she wanted to be able to, wanted to know everything there was to know about this confusing mess of a person who turned up on her doorstep and met her brother’s eye with a sharp gaze.

“Tattoos?” _Oh God._

“Three circles on her wrist,” Kara says succinctly and Lex leaves a pause that screams _any others_. Kara stares blankly like she’s never seen Lena naked. She has _definitely_ seen Lena naked. They eye each other for a moment longer before Lex breaks into a grin.

“You’re good. You’ll need that stone persona for the rest of the day.”

“Lex, stop trying to scare her.” This was why she never brought anyone home. This behaviour right here. She’d have to be some kind of monster to bring this upon herself and someone else.

“Dad is practising his intentions speech as we speak.”

Lena sighs, “Are we ever getting cranberry sauce?”

Lionel appears at the bottom of the stairs, keys in hand and smile securely on his face as though he’d been waiting for this exact moment. “What a great idea, Lena. Me and your friend will go get it.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“N-“ Kara puts her hand gently on Lena’s forearm.

“It’s fine, Lena,” she squeezes before letting go and walking down the stairs. Lena can feel the phantom touch even as she reaches the bottom, it pairs well with the heat she can feel creeping up her neck. “I’ll go with you, sir. I can drive if you’d like, save you getting your car from the garage.”

“Excellent.”

“Shut up,” she says to Lex’s smirk and keen eyes. She smacks him in the stomach when he laughs at the wink Lionel sends to both of them as he shuts the door.

“I didn’t say a word. Mom has several though.” Lena accepts her fate and follows him back to where Lillian stands with stuffing on her hands and a look of complete glee on her face. Why was this the family she got adopted into? The one where they found such happiness in mocking one another.

“I never did like the sound of that Andrea.”

“Really? That’s your opening line?” Nothing about not having catered for enough mouths (even if it was only a passive aggressive lie to make a point about informing her of plans). Nothing about her tasteless sweater (even if it was actually incredibly adorable). Nothing about anything but an insult towards a girl that she never even met (even if it turned out to be wholly valid in the end).

“Would you prefer I said I didn’t think sunny blondes were your type, or asked if that’s where the almost faded hickey on your neck came from?” Lena grabs a spoon from the counter in a flash to look at her reflection in panic. She puts it down leisurely when she’s realises she actually just fell for that. “Made you look.” Lena half expects Lillian to follow that up by sticking her tongue out.

“I can’t believe you have people convinced you’re a ruthless businesswoman.” That wasn’t entirely true. Lillian Luthor had a glare that could cut glass and the will to use it. But Lillian at home was the first person who tucked her into bed in her new home and offered to read any bedtime story that she wanted, putting on voices for all the characters without question. Her grizzly bear was by far the best.

“Well I am but I’m also your mother and I’m glad you’re moving on.”

“I didn’t think I was.” If you’d asked Lena yesterday how she was doing she’d say she was still in love with the girl who left her heart in the dust. If you asked her today she’d tell you that her brain was too clouded with the girl she’d been hooking up with for weeks to know what she was feeling.

“Sometime’s people surprise you.”

“She’s been surprising me since the second we met.” Confidence, charm, intelligence - Kara always had more than expected and she never saw it herself, never believed in herself the way she deserved. It only seemed to make her deserve it more in Lena’s eyes.

“You know, when I first met Lionel we were being set up by our parents. I wanted to hate him but at every turn he did something that made my opinion of him grow until out of nowhere I realised I quite liked the idea of spending the rest of my life with him. He affirmed every good thing I believed about him the day he came home with a scared little girl holding a tattered teddy bear and told me she was going to be part of this family.”

“Aren’t you supposed to save the sentimentality for the allotted three minutes going round the table?” Lena jokes through her tight throat, dabs at her eyes threatening to dampen.

“Well I’m thankful for you all year round.”

“You too.”

“Now tell me all about Kara before she gets back,” Lillian presses, pushing a glass of wine into Lena’s hand like she doesn’t care what time it is if it’ll make Lena open up a little. She takes one, incredibly large gulp. It helps. It really does help.

“I don’t know, she’s… baffling. I met her the night Andrea and I broke up. Jack dragged me to a party I left way too early and she walked me the entire way home and then just left without any expectation. Turns out the party was in her apartment.” It was wholly ridiculous. She’d looked beautiful with the haze of alcohol and under the moonlights lens.

Her hand brushed Lena’s a few times but never grabbed. She waited until Lena was securely inside before she turned away. She somehow followed Lena’s lead even as she pushed them in the direction she wanted to go.

“A gentleman, then. Good.”

“I don’t even know that much about her but apparently she’s been cataloguing everything about me. She brought me soup once after she said I sniffled a little too prominently when we bumped into each other at the library. I really thought we were just fu… friends,” Lena winces as she says it and not because of the too close slip up but because it sounds so stupid when she says it out loud. It all seems so obvious when she puts together all the pieces. She should’ve seen this coming.

Well… maybe not _this_ this. But the feelings. The feelings for sure.

“You’re usually a lot better at anticipating than this.”

“People are more confusing than chess.” Understatement of the year.

Lillian nods sagely, “Especially when they’re that pretty.”

“Yeah,” Lena sighs, a little more wistfully than she means to. Kara was more disorientating than Lena ever imagined she would be when she first charmed her way into Lena’s apartment with absolutely no deliberate attempt to be charming at all.

“Well I approve. For now. I will still be grilling her the second she returns.”

“Please don’t,“ Lena argues but she doesn’t know why she bothers. It’s going to happen regardless, which is why she’s had two full glasses of wine by the time she hears the door burst open.

“Honey, we’re home!” Lionel calls, wandering into the kitchen with a grin on his face as he presents the cranberry sauce. “This one near punched a man in the face for this.”

“I wouldn’t have punched him,” Kara argues, leaning slightly closely to him to conspiratorially stage whisper, “I was leaning towards a headlock whilst you grabbed it.”

Lionel laughs, “I like this one. Much better than the girl Lex brought round last year. What was her name? Strawberry?” Lena snorts as she recalls the vapid girl who had attended last year. The one who was evidently Lex’s quarter life crisis when he realised he was starting to lose his hair like Lionel always told him he would. Family trait he said. Lena had never been gladder to not be biologically related to them. Her jaw line was admittedly impressive but was it that good? She didn’t know.

“It was Grape,” Lillian faux corrects.

“No you’re both wrong. It was Apple,” Lena adds, both of them humming in acceptance.

Lex wanders in with an exaggerated sigh like he knew this line of conversation was only a matter of time. He always was a smart one. “Her name was Cherry and I think you all know that. And she had many good qualities.”

Lena scoffs, “She had two and she accidentally dipped them into the mashed potatoes whilst reaching for the salt.”

“And those potatoes were all the better for it.”

“Okay, all of you, shoo. You’re interrupting my cooking.” There’s an immediate shift towards the door before Lillian’s chopping halts for a second as she lifts her hand in a stopping motion. “Not you, Kara. You can stay.” Lena hesitates until Kara sends her a reassuring smile and she reacts with what she hopes is a reassuring kiss to Kara’s cheek before darting off, ignoring the pointed looks she receives from literally everyone and the blush that blooms on Kara’s face.

“What do you need, ma’am? Desserts are my speciality.”

“Lillian’s fine, Kara, and I suppose that means you’re on pumpkin pie duty.” Lena doesn’t hear the rest as she walks into the living room with Lionel and Lex. She has half a mind to press her ear to the kitchen door for the whole conversation but maybe she doesn’t want to hear that. She probably doesn’t want the second-hand embarrassment of hearing that.

“Your girlfriend is nice,” Lionel says conversationally as he pours them all a drink and takes a seat.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Lena argues pointlessly.

“Your future-girlfriend is nice.” Lena rolls her eyes at the clarification, moves a chess piece on the board in front of them in a clear move to steer them away from this conversation. Lionel seems to take pity on her, moving his own without a word. Lena supposes he agreed she had exposed enough of her secrets today already - even if it was entirely against her will.

Her stomach is grumbling by the time they’re called to dinner (she’s also beaten Lex and Lionel multiple times much to their chagrin). The table is already half set; Kara stands next to her handiwork with a handful of cutlery and a confused look on her face.

“You alright?” Lena gently presses a hand to the small of her back, delights in the way Kara’s frown eases up the slightest bit at the contact.

“There are more forks here than I’m used to.”

“The small ones go on the outside,” Lena says simply, they were pretty useless anyway. She had a feeling Lillian had just given them to her to see what she’d do. Kara finishes the job quickly and stands back to admire her work – her pleased grin is cuter than it has any right to be. Lena presses a kiss to her lips before anyone can walk in and catch them.

“Thank you,” Kara says and quickly winces.

“You’re welcome,” Lena laughs, schooling her features quickly as everyone else filters in and she thankfully finds herself sat beside Kara who looks like she’s mentally adding up how much food she can possibly eat without being judged for it.

Lionel raises his glass, “Well I suppose I’ll start so we can get to eating this delicious spread. I’m thankful for my wonderful wife who put this all together.” Cue the eye rolls and Kara’s soft, as-yet-disillusioned grin. “And for this oddly strong blonde who fought off a grown man to assure I don’t have to listen to snide remarks for the rest of the week about how I ruined the meal by not completing my one job.”

Lillian hums like she’s a little disappointed she didn’t get the chance to lord it over him before she says, “Well I’m thankful that Blueberry isn’t here.” _Cherry_ , Lex corrects lowly and even Kara smothers a laugh at his misfortune. “But that the rest of my family are. I love you all very much and look forward to the next time you’re forced home to eat with us.”

“I’m thankful that you all trusted me to open a new branch of the company and that it seems to be thriving and also that Kara showed up so I can make Lena the butt of the joke for the rest of the year instead of me.” Lena flicks mashed potato at Lex from across the table and half forces Kara into a high-five when it lands perfectly on his cheek.

“I’m thankful that didn’t miss,” Lena says shortly. All eyes remain trained silently on her. “And for the boob-free potatoes we’re about to enjoy.” Still the slightly judgemental silence. “And for all of you for supporting me in all my endeavours.”

Kara startles as they all turn to look at her as though it wasn’t obvious where this whole thing was going. “Oh, I’m thankful that my family aren’t mad I ditched them today and that you guys didn’t kick me out. I’ll let you know how I feel about the boob-free potatoes.” She preens under the laughter she receives and _oh_ maybe Lena was a little more invested than she thought.

It’s more subdued after that, even if it feels a little like Kara is being interrogated. Kara holds her hand under the table the entire time even though Lena makes no move to stop the questions, even if it means she has to eat the entire meal one handed. She makes it work.

The thing is, Lena couldn’t stop the questions if she tried and there’s no part of her that wants to. She likes learning more about Kara, mentally cataloguing every new piece of information she’s handed in a desperate attempt to catch up with her, to feel like she could answer a mini quiz on Kara Danvers and pass with her usual flying colours.

She learns that Kara majors in journalism and minors in astrophysics. That she was adopted when she was thirteen and gained a sister that she couldn’t live without, a mother who never pressured her into thinking she could replace the mom she once knew but gently found her own space in Kara’s heart and a father who made jokes as terrible as Lionel but still had a full head of hair (that comment gets a laugh from Lillian that she just barely manages to disguise as a cough).

She learns that she really does think turkey is the best part of the meal and eats more than she ever should be able to fit in even with her single-hand handicap. That she volunteers at an animal shelter and lets her neighbours cat hide in her apartment every once in a while when their landlord comes to inspect his apartment to check for strictly forbidden pets. Lena learns that she likes the feeling of Kara’s hand in her own even when they both get a little too sweaty for it to be entirely comfortable.

Lena learns that she’s going to end up liking Kara far more than she ever planned to.

That her entire family are a little bit in love with her as she helps Lillian wash up, and makes jokes that have them all laughing, and plays Pictionary so amazingly well that Lionel wins for the first time in his life even with his terrible art skills and she’s _so_ charming.

Charming enough that the hours edge on and instead of pulling a Cherry extraction and all but pushing Kara out the door without so much as a goodbye, Lionel asks, “Will you be staying, Kara? We can make up a guest room.” Lena barely holds back the deadpan comment about how much time Kara had spent in her bed and visa versa for a guest room to be a little laughable now. She thinks that might undo all the good work Kara had done at least a little bit.

“No, sir. Lena and I made a deal so I actually had better be going – long drive ahead of me.” Still with the sir, and the firm handshakes, and polite waves as she grabs her coat from the end of the banister where Lena had left it earlier, too frazzled to remember to put it in the closet.

“You left your scarf. In my room. We should get that before you go,” Lena says stiltedly when she realises her family aren’t going to offer any privacy themselves. They were all as bad as each other. Kara nods and follows despite the confusion plainly sitting on her face that screams _I didn’t come with a scarf_. Everyone else knows it too but Lena walks to her room with confidence.

The next set of events go like this. Lena opens her closet and grabs the first scarf she sees, wraps it securely round Kara’s neck. Then she grabs the end and tugs Kara in for a kiss. It’s not much more than a meeting of mouths. A gentle, experimental press of lips that for the first time since Kara first kissed her, isn’t meant to lead anywhere else.

Kara’s eyes flutter open when she pulls back like she’d been thoroughly ravished. Lena’s heart feels a little like it’s in the same state.

“Thank you,” Kara says again.

“You’re welcome,” Lena still laughs. “Thank you for being bold.”

“I think it was worth it,” Kara says surely and with warm hands resting on her waist and a tingle on her lips, Lena thinks she’s inclined to agree. She wipes any trace that anything at all happened in the room when she leads Kara back downstairs, her family all still grin at her like they know exactly what was going on and by _god_ they all needed some new hobbies.

Kara waves one last time as they duck out of the door. The discordant chorus of goodbyes is unlike anything Lena had ever heard from her ever-polished family but Kara grins at the sound, the edges of her sunshine smile dropping a little in trepidation as she lingers at her half-opened car door.

“Can I take you out when we get back to National City?”

“I’d like that.”

“Great,” Kara breathes, darting forward to kiss Lena one last time. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Kara, wait.” She stops obediently and it’s a testament to how much Lena had been losing her mind that day that she finds herself lifting her top to flash Kara her boobs and then immediately feeling the need to justify, adds, “Just to keep you awake through the drive.”

They go on that date when they’re both back in National City. Then one turns into two and two turns into many until Kara awkwardly asks her to be her girlfriend. And then slightly less awkwardly asks her to move in. And then makes Lena feel like the awkward one when she’s crying in their living room because Kara is down on one knee and asking to spend the rest of their lives together.

Her family tell the story of their first Thanksgiving at their wedding and Kara grins the whole way through even as Lex tries to spin it this way and that, like she’s completely proud of her actions.

Lena was pretty proud too.


	2. Chapter 2

She can’t stop thinking about her. She can’t stop thinking, and thinking, and thinking and Kara had never really been known for her ability to filter her thoughts so she also keeps talking, and talking, and talking about her. And she’s not really saying anything even as she says everything.

Lena came up on Kara like a tsunami in the shallow end of a paddling pool. Her feet were solidly on the ground and then she was drowning in a way she hadn’t even thought possible. She let herself be carried away in it, let herself become whatever Lena wanted, whatever she needed without thought to the fact that there was this growing warmth in her chest that she couldn’t manage to smother (even when she tried and she really had _tried_ ).

She was obsessed with her the second she saw her at her party. The most beautiful girl she’d ever seen, casually in her apartment and standing in the corner like everything, and everyone, offended her. All Kara wanted was to talk to her. Then she spoke to her and all she wanted was to kiss her. Then she kissed her and all she wanted was to acquaint her with the new sheets she’d just been shamed into buying. Then she had her in her bed and all she wanted was to maybe spend the rest of her life with her.

Kara was still working on that part.

It was two in the morning and she knew she should’ve stopped talking about her by then. Alex had very clearly hidden her head beneath her pillow and audibly groaned with every new lyric Kara waxed about her beautiful, moon-skinned lady love.

It was two in the morning and even the ceiling of her childhood bedroom reminded her of Lena and she felt like she was slowly losing her mind. Apparently she wasn’t the only one.

“Kara, I swear to God, if I have to hear one more thing about this Lena chick I will literally throw you from this window. I don’t care if I have to eat hospital jell-o for Thanksgiving dinner, I will do it - and do not mistake that as a threat. It’s a promise.” Kara didn’t doubt that for a second. Thanksgiving always had an odd way of bringing the violence out in Alex.

“But Alex-“

“Just go tell her you love her instead of making me listen to it,” Alex moans and Kara stops her words in their tracks. Could she do that? Could she just find out wherever Lena was, go there and tell her, well, tell her that she liked her more than she meant to because _love_ felt a little aggressive to hit her with out of nowhere? Was that, like, a thing people did?

She sits with her silence for long enough that Alex twists towards her in her bed from across the room and points at her with a sharp finger and what is sure to be a stern glare, completely hidden by the darkness of the night, “Kara, do not take that seriously. Go to sleep.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kara texts Lena. She’s in her car within twenty minutes.

The drive is far longer than she figured it would be. She’s hopped up on too many energy drinks and far too much sugar by the time she harasses the gas station lady for Lena’s address and picks up what she hopes don’t look like they’re gas station flowers. She sits in her car outside Lena’s house for thirty minutes trying to make herself look semi-presentable and then she essentially throws herself out of it because she knows she’ll chicken out if she does it one leg at a time.

Lena looks like she has no idea what’s going on when Kara tells her she likes her. Lex looks like he knows far more than he ever should as he quizzes her on all things Lena Luthor and she comes up with the perfect answer every time. She always was a quick study when she cared.

And then suddenly she’s offering to go to the store with Lena’s dad. Alone. And she’s maybe freaking out a little. She only offers to drive so she at least has something to focus on other than him but that other thing turns out to be trying to grip her steering wheel with increasingly sweaty palms and she’s not entirely sure she’s any better off for the choice.

“You really drove this car all the way here?” The way Lionel looks around makes it obvious that he’s less questioning the truthfulness of the act and more how realistic it is that Kara managed to drive anywhere in _this_ car. Which is vaguely offensive because this was her baby but, yes, her baby was on the verge of complete and total mechanical failure every time it so much as moved.

“Yes, sir. She almost called it quits around the halfway mark but my mom taught me a few things about cars when I was little.” Sometimes Kara was thankful when her car clunked and sputtered because under the hood she didn’t feel as far away from everything she’d lost.

“She’s not missing you today?” Kara flexes her fingers on the wheel.

“She died when I was younger actually. My adoptive mother understood though – she called me a hopeless romantic but I’m focusing on romantic rather than the hopeless half.” Eliza had chuckled when Kara called to explain herself after she stopped for gas and saw way too many messages from Alex calling her a hopeless idiot (she hadn’t managed to spin that one yet – she wasn’t sure which half was less offensive).

Lionel watches quietly for a second, Kara refuses to turn and find whatever sits in his gaze, “You don’t seem Lena’s type.”

“Respectfully, sir, I don’t think that Lena has a type.” Although Kara thinks her muscles are definitely part of it – they had been subject to some very close scrutiny during their… _encounters_. “I think she just wants to feel seen and I’ve seen nothing but her since the day we met.” Gay tunnel vision. It was a thing, don’t quote her on it, but it was definitely a thing.

Kara pulls into the near empty lot surrounding the store. One car is parked directly in front of the door – honestly parked is more credit than is due, it’s practically abandoned. Kara wants to laugh but when she turns to make a comment, Lionel is looking at the store like it’s his greatest nemesis. It suddenly doesn’t quite seem like the time to make a joke.

“OK, Kara Danvers. Time to prove yourself.” Why did men make the stupidest stuff dramatic?

“Whatever you need, sir.” If you can’t beat them, join them.

“It’s going to be chaos. There will be several men running around like headless chickens but all we need is the cranberry sauce. I don’t care what you have to do to get it but we will be standing victorious in aisle four or I will tell my daughter you failed this family.”

“Weird pep-talk but okay.” They could do this. Kara could do this. She rolls her shoulders, clicks her knuckles and then practically flings herself out the car door (apparently that was her thing now). Lionel nods like she’s got exactly the right spirit as he follows her out and towards the store.

She feels like the whole thing is kind of ridiculous until she makes it to aisle four, until she locks eyes on the cranberry sauce a few feet away – the last one on the shelf - and watches the exact second another person does the same.

It’s like a Wild West shootout. Hands ready at her sides, eyes meeting across the way, a dropped can of soup rolling across the aisle ominously. Kara refuses to lose. She can feel the competitive streak rising up in her like it’s a physical entity. She blames its force for what she does next.

She’s not entirely proud of her actions. She’s not proud of the way she hip-checks him out of the way and grabs the cranberry sauce with a cheer. She’s less proud of the way she holds it above her head, just out of his reach when he tries to snatch it from her hands – though Kara doesn’t think there’s any real pride to be had from any party in that situation.

He looks a little like he might cry that a young woman in a comical sweater is holding cranberry sauce just out of his reach as another grown man laughs beside him at his misfortune. Honestly Kara wouldn’t even blame him if a tear did happen to slip out. At least no-one else was watching… except the one half asleep cashier who looked like this was the best part of his day.

“I’m so sorry…”

“Bernard.”

“I’m so sorry, Bernard, but my future with who I think is the love of my life begins with me demeaning you over a jar of cranberry sauce. I wish it didn’t have to be like this. Unfortunately, though, it does, and I’m going to leave now.” She steps back, breathes a sigh of relief when he doesn’t attempt to step with her. “Good luck with your wife.”

She turns to Lionel’s impressed whistle, “I have absolutely no delusions that my opinion matters to my daughter to any degree but you definitely have my backing after that. I thought you were going to punch him for a second. I almost hoped that you would.”

“I try not to punch people since I hit my sister’s weird ex-boyfriend in sophomore year and broke my finger.” Alex taught her the proper way to punch after that. She didn’t regret it even as Eliza taped her fingers and told her it was a reckless decision, no matter how noble. She regretted it even less when she was finally allowed back to school and his face was still a little bruised.

Lionel laughs at her half-proud, mostly bashful grin, “Maybe you are Lena’s type – she’s always loved puzzles.”

Everything feels a little less tense then. Lionel asks questions and actually responds in return when Kara asks - turns out they have a lot more in common than first thought. Kara grips the steering wheel a little looser on the way home, even manages a few jokes as Lionel tells her stories about Lena that he should definitely not be telling her but that she’s absolutely not going to stop him telling because she wants to hear them all. She wants to hear everything.

But no amount of momentary friendship can stop Kara’s posture from following suit as his gaze hardens the moment they pull back up to the house (she’s calling it that so she doesn’t think about how it’s most definitely a manor – she’s half convinced it’s actually a baby castle).

“One last thing, Kara, before we go inside,” she pulls her hand away from the car door, looks at him seriously. “Lena’s more fragile than most people think. She has a habit of shouldering burdens that were never hers to hold and she does that with a blank face because she’s convinced if people know she’s hurting she’s failed somehow.

“She’s a genius that constantly gets stuck in her own head and she’s special. I knew that from the second I met her – I think you did too – but I need you to promise me the thing I promised myself when I heard of her parents’ death in one of our labs and decided to bring her home with me.”

The image of Lena, so small and being dragged into this whole new world, makes Kara feels shaky but her words hold a strength she almost didn’t believe she could muster, “Anything.”

“Never give up on her. It’s ridiculous to promise you’ll never hurt someone but if you do, promise me you will do everything in your power to fix it.”

Kara smiles gently, “That’s an easy promise to make.”

“Good because I have more money than I know what to do with most days and I’m not blind to the privilege that offers me with the law,” Lionel’s voice comes out in a poor imitation of his own but a perfect version of something far, far darker. Kara feels a shiver go down her spine.

She gulps, “Noted.”

Lionel nods, his face slipping straight back into joviality, “Time for our victory lap.”

Kara follows a little bewildered but mostly with a new understanding of Lena. She made sense in this place in a way she had never really made complete sense before and Kara felt herself getting sucked into the intoxicating feeling of finally feeling in the know.

She’s even more bewildered when Lena presses a kiss to her cheek in full view of her entire family. It’s the bewilderment that has her undertaking what seems to be round three of trials to impress Lena’s family. Potentially bad things did come in threes. Potentially bad things did not usually come in the form of the Danvers family pumpkin pie recipe but stranger tides had been turned.

Kara doesn’t know exactly what to expect really. She’d watched Lillian Luthor’s TED Talks, had seen the glare Lena could send people and she knew exactly where it came from. But, right now, Lillian looks soft, if not slightly calculating as she cooks - relaxed and in her element for the day. Kara wishes she felt half the same amount of composure.

“You like to cook, Kara?” So they were starting this? Game face. _Game face_.

“I like to eat. Eliza, my mother, says that it would be unfair to ask someone else to cater to my appetite. Between you and me I think she was just a little worried about all the pancakes I was eating on account of it being the only thing I could confidently cook.”

Her dad taught her when she was little, would put a stool in front of the stove and hold her hand as she held the spatula. He span her round the kitchen the first time she ever successfully flipped one. She refused to eat anything else for a week after they died. Eliza started trying new recipes to cram secret vegetables in them after the third day – they were terrible, Kara ate them anyway.

“You know, I’ve never been able to flip pancakes,” Lillian says, as though she can hear the thoughts and memories running through Kara’s mind.

“Maybe I could teach you sometime?”

“If you make it through today, it would be my pleasure.” Kara stills, her hands completely halting in their movements, her shoulders tense. “I’m kidding, darling. No need to panic.”

“Lena calls me darling sometimes. It’s nice.” Kara winces, she hadn’t quite meant to actually verbalise that thought. “I don’t know why I’m telling you that.”

“Honesty is important and welcome. Lord knows Lena didn’t tell us that she had a girlfriend.” That was probably due to the fact that it wasn’t entirely customary to refer to your fuck buddy as that, or very well tell your mother that you had one in the first place. Kara blushes just thinking about it, physically shakes her head to get that…physicality from her brain.

“Oh no, Mrs Lu- Lillian,” she self-corrects under a gentle glare. “We’re not girlfriends. Not that I don’t want to be because that would be great, _everything_ really. But no, we’re friends… slightly more than friends?”

“You don’t sound too sure.”

“Your daughter is perplexing. I really thought I’d put all my cards on the table face up but she seemed to think I was holding them close to my chest and she’s definitely thrown hers away from the table all together and I’m losing sight of this metaphor but she seemed surprised when I told her I like her today and now I’m really glad I didn’t bring the big L out of the woodworks because _boy_ could that have been a total disaster.” Kara really needed to start exercising some restraint. Some things weren’t meant to be babbled to the girl you want to be your girlfriend’s mother.

“That was certainly a lot to unpack, dear. You’re certainly bold beneath all the rambling.”

“That’s the thing with rambling – eventually you find the right phrase to talk yourself into things.” Sometimes Kara didn’t even know where she was going herself. Correction: most of the time Kara didn’t even know where she was going herself. But it all worked out in the end… usually.

“Well keep it up. I think a little rambling confidence might be exactly what Lena needs.” Kara smiles softly, thinks about the first time they’d spoken and Kara hadn’t even realised she was still talking until Lena stilled her voice with a hand on her arm and way too musical to be fair laughter.

“I hope so.”

“Just don’t mess her around, Kara Danvers. That last one did enough damage and I will-“

Kara jumps in, “Use your vast amounts of wealth to orchestrate my disappearance?”

“I see Lionel made the most of your trip out. But yes.” Lillian softens a little at the mention of her husband before she slips back into what Kara thinks must be her boardroom persona. She’s a little terrified even if Lillian does have a dusting of flour on her cheek – oddly the strength she manages to omit in spite of it only makes it that little bit worse.

A part of her is glad though – glad that Lena has this. That even when she lost her world she got another one to build her right back up. Just like Kara did. They both deserved that much.

“I’ll always try to be better for her than I was the day before,” Kara says with as much conviction as she can muster and Lillian looks a little startled by the statement, maybe even a little proud. Kara tells herself now isn’t the moment to visibly preen under the admiring gaze.

“You’re wise beyond your years, Kara, and a lot better at this than some of the women Lex brings home. Half of them don’t even realise they’re being threatened.”

“You have to appreciate evolution for giving them such a fantastic defence mechanism.” Kara’s was her undying optimism but even that hadn’t stopped the way she was practically vibrating with nerves the entire drive over. She could still feel the tremors now.

Lillian chuckles, “I have an important job for you, Kara.”

“Name it.” If she had to demean another grown man then so be it.

“Set the table.” She thinks she would rather demean another grown man.

Maybe that was slightly hyperbolic. It starts well enough. Kara doesn’t question it at all, just gets to work, making it look as presentable as possible but then well… then she’s put all the forks down and is still holding five in her hand and they look different but exactly the same and she knows it can’t be a mistake. One extra fork was a miscount. Five extra forks had forethought and Kara could not for the life of her think of what that thought was.

Maybe they went at the top. Maybe they just went in the middle. Serving forks? Spare forks? Tuning forks so they could match perfect pitch for a family dinner table sing-a-long (yes that final one was absolutely ridiculous but she was panicking, okay?!)

She almost cries a little bit when Lena comes in alone. She’s like a walking cheat sheet and Kara’s kind of missed her all day. She whispers the answer and kisses Kara so gently that she says something stupid and can’t even be mad at herself about it because _Lena kissed her_.

She feels like she’s doing something right when Lena holds her hand throughout the whole dinner. She feels like this was working out and it was a great idea and Alex could suck it.

Lena asks her gentle questions, and makes jokes, and explains inside family jokes to Kara whenever she looks a little too lost as to what’s going on and Kara’s never been so sure that Lena cared. _She cared_. And Kara was going to marry this girl. She was. Even if it meant she had to marry into this crazy family who tried to speed built robots on Thanksgiving for fun. It would be worth it. She could learn how to build a robot if it meant Lena would be by her side.

She would learn to do anything if it meant more of Lena pulling her into her room and pulling her into a kiss that’s mind-blowing in its subtlety, in its complete sincerity. The promise of the beginning Kara had been hoping for since it all began for her, since the first second she saw Lena.

Kara feels dazed the whole way home. Her entire sensory system on overload. She can taste Lena on her lips, and feel the ghost of her hands on her neck. She can hear her breathless laughter and see her boobs engrained onto her retina – she doesn’t even have to blink to relive the memory, it just plays on constant loop on her windscreen like a drive through movie that she hopes never ends.

She can smell Lena the whole way home, wrapped warmly around her neck and Lena was a lot stupider than Kara was giving her credit for if she ever thought she was getting this back because this was Kara’s scarf now. She would be buried with the scarf that Lena used to kiss her.

_Kiss her_.

This was the best Thanksgiving in her life.

Until the one where they host for the first time in _their_ home and after they’ve convinced everyone out the door, Kara gets down on one knee to the soundtrack of Lena’s gasp as agrees to marry her between some really intense crying that she makes Kara promise to never tell anyone happened.

She tells several. Lena calls her a snake but kisses her anyway.

(And maybe turkey was a close second for Kara’s favourite thing on Thanksgiving. Lena was first. Lena would always be first).

**Author's Note:**

> hoping to do a kara pov but please never hold me to anything i say ever


End file.
